I first met the current Fourthies when they were in Kindergarten the year we initiated Innovation Days. Anna Safran was in my group that year. I can remember that day as if it were yesterday...the girls in my class looked over at Anna and said, "Wow, Mrs. Roberts, look at what that Kindergartener is drawing for her model." What a wow it was! These remarkable Innovation Days have produced girls who can make something, utilizing simple materials. After five years and ten innovation projects, the impact of these Innovations Days is clear. The girls can think, design and produce in a way that is definitely innovative. They thrive on these occasions, and they love every minute of it! They were inspired by a wonderful innovator, Angela Luna, who spoke to the Lower School, as well as the entire school, in the fall.
The challenge to the girls was to design something that could be useful or helpful to other people.
Last fall they met as a team to decide what they wanted to design. Then on Tuesday, they met again to figure out their materials, and today they made their designs. This was accomplished today without me! I was sick at home. It killed me to miss it, but I will see their final projects after Spring Break. I thought that you might like to see the results today! These are the projects that have been shared with me.
See this link to read about Angela Luna. https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2017/10/12/angela-luna-23-is-building-a-business-with-clothes-that-save-lives/#547cdfb71b1a
Flipping Bike Pack
We made a flipping Bike pack. We made it out of fabric, duck tape, plastic cup, ribbon, buttons , rubber bands,and some teamwork along the way! This will help people that are traveling and don’t have a car or can’t afford one.
Not only does the flipping bike pack carry your things,but it also has water cup holders ,and a mat that you can sit on. The water holders will either hold your water bottle or you can just put water right in the cup! Although the basket is cardboard, it is covered in fabric, so if your item is fragile it will be in good shape when you take it out. The awesome blanket that folds out can buckle up tight when you are on the go. You may also have a nice little picnic too!
Education Bags
By Natalie,Clare,Darcy,Laudie,and Becca
These are our Education Bags.Inside of the Education Bags are materials for parents who can’t send their kids to school. Inside the bags are pencils,paper,a book,crayons,a calculator,a coloring book,and glue stick. Parents can take one bag or as many as they want.We want the Education Bags to go to Child Fund. We all made the flashcards in class,and Natalie made the bags at her house from cloth and string. Everyone helped load the bags.
Let’s help!
Sleeping bag design
Idea: make a sleeping bag that can turn into a purse, it can turn into a solar panel
Step one: make the sleeping bag
Step two: turn into a purse
Step three: color
Step four: take pictures
Step five: show teachers
Pictures go here:
sleeping bag flat`
purse
This design is a sleeping bag that turns into a purse! If you tie the rubber bands it turns into a purse to carry things in. Who likes to be cold at night? Well, it has a solar panel to keep you warm at night. It gets very small so it is easy to carry around. We made it by tissue paper, cardboard, a lot of tape, a few rubber bands, and paper.The sleeping bag will be made out of waterproof material so if it is raining you will not get wet. If we think about other people’s needs then we can change the world.
Paxton Raymond
Madelyn Smullen
Betsy Spalding
Kensie Toepp
Learner Buddy!
By Lillie, Laila, Violet, and Isabella
Our project is called The Learner Buddy. The way it works is you put a piece of paper into
the slot. Each piece of paper has educational things on it. Then you type the things or answers to the questions that are on the slide. It helps little kids learn their ABC’s and 123’s.We used cardboard, fabric, construction paper, and rainbow duck tape.
This is our Arrow Filter. We built it to help hunger and thirst. It is an arrow and a water filter all in one. We built it from a pipe, rope, rocks, hook, and a filter. We made it so that you can sling it onto your back. You use it by throwing it into the water. There is a filter at the bottom that cleans the water that comes through the pipe, and when it is in the filter you open the cap on the bottom of it.
The End
The Sleeping Coat Team Asra, Emma,Tayloe and Madison
Our idea was to make a coat that turns into a sleeping bag. We think that people who are in a rush won’t have the time to pitch a tent and take it down every day, so we decided to make this a sleeping bag. We hope it will help people who don’t have the money to buy one of Angela Luna’s tents. Our creation was inspired by Angela Luna’s tents but we had different ideas. We think that just flipping it inside out will be easier than pitching a tent. It would work for people who travel and those that don’t have enough money to buy a bed.
In our innovation project, we created an umbrella that turns into a tent. The umbrella can also be attached to a backpack using the velcro strap most umbrellas have to keep them together. The tent can be put together by putting a blanket on top. Just close the umbrella and take the blanket off to make it back to normal.You could also open the umbrella while it's on the backpack. In the classroom, it was kind of hard to make the backpack attach to the umbrella because we had to make a way to open it while not blocking the path of the umbrella as it closes. Using the velcro strap solved this problem. It was also kind of difficult to keep the umbrella from falling, but we supported it with the backpack and some tape and it stayed up. We also put the umbrella on it’s side and it stayed up that way too.
By Maddie Bridges, Mary Mac Starke, Courtney Carter, Amelia Ellis
